Murphy Oil Second Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, August 1, 2012. Murphy Oil is an oil and gas exploration and production company with refining and marketing operations in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

Murphy Oil Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for net income of $1.33 per share, a decline of 16.9% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from $1.55. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It also has dropped from $1.38 during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 8.8% versus last year to $5.20.

Past Earnings Performance: The company is hoping to beat estimates after missing the mark for two straight quarters. Last quarter, it reported profit of $1.49 per share against an estimate of net income of $1.52 per share. The quarter before that, it missed forecasts by 10 cents.

Stock Price Performance: From June 27, 2012 to July 26, 2012, the stock price rose $6.39 (13.8%), from $46.40 to $52.79. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between June 25, 2012 and July 3, 2012, when shares rose for seven straight days, increasing 17.4% (+$7.63) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between May 1, 2012 and May 15, 2012 when shares fell for 11 straight days, dropping 16.6% (-$9.28) over that span.

Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts are projecting a rise of 10% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $9.59 billion.

A Look Back: In the first quarter, profit rose 7.9% to $290.1 million ($1.49 a share) from $268.9 million ($1.38 a share) the year earlier, but fell short analyst expectations. Revenue fell 4.8% to $6.99 billion from $7.35 billion.

Key Stats:

On the top line, the company is looking to get back on the right track after last quarter’s drop snapped a string of revenue increases. Revenue rose 55.4% in the second quarter of the last fiscal year, 18.8% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year and 4.9%in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year before dropping in the first quarter.

Balance Sheet Analysis: The company’s current ratio of assets to liabilities came in at 1.17 last quarter. The current ratio is an indication of a firm’s liquidity and ability to meet creditor demands and generally, for every dollar the company owes in the short term, it has that figure available in assets that can be converted to cash in the short term. The company regressed in this liquidity measure from 1.22 in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year to the last quarter driven in part by an increase in liabilities. Current liabilities increased 14.9% to $3.25 billion while assets rose 10.4% to $3.8 billion.

Analyst Ratings: There are mostly holds on the stock with seven of 11 analysts surveyed giving that rating.